Governor’s real persona is more offensive than his political one

Ohio Gov. John Kasich yesterday delivered his second “State of the State” speech, a reportedly hilarious mockery of political tradition that ranged from harmlessly wacky to straight-up sexist, while making a pit stop in the “Parkinson’s disease is funny” category.

Kasich’s apparent intention was to announce a new broadband plan, introduce an award honoring courageous Ohioans and try to say that his plans for shale drilling in the Northeastern part of the state are totally going to respect the environment.

Those familiar with Kasich’s governing style will find these descriptions to be only slightly surprising. Remember last January when he called a police officer an “idiot” in a speech for giving him a speeding ticket? Or when he mocked Ohio’s drivers license for being pink (PINK IS SO GAY!)? Or that time he told a group of business owners that he wanted to make Ohio cool because the executives at LexisNexis said all their employees would rather live on the coasts instead of sucky-ass Ohio?

Sharen Neuhardt says Kasich's claim to be helping women is "despicable and wrong"

Lt.
Governor-candidate Sharen Neuhardt held a press conference on the City Hall front steps today to lament a tax cut proposed by Gov.
John Kasich, claiming that it furthers his agenda to help Ohio’s top 1 percent.

Kasich
has proposed to cut income tax 8.5 percent across the board by 2016, which
would help drive Ohio’s top tax rate below 5 percent. The governor claims single
mothers making $30,000 would save an extra few hundred dollars on taxes every
year as part of his proposed tax cut, a claim Neuhardt called “despicable and
wrong.”

During
the press conference, Neuhardt said Kasich is using the plight of single mothers to propagate
a tax cut that would disproportionately benefit Ohio’s upper echelon.

Neuhardt
doesn’t have a plan to square the $11,600 pay disparity between genders in 2012
that she cites, but she did say that her administration would need to reverse
everything Kasich’s administration has done in order to get Ohio’s economy
moving forward, should she and her running mate, gubernatorial candidate Ed
Fitzgerald, win office in November.

“We
need Ohio’s working class to have money in their pocket,” Neuhardt said.

Kasich’s
previous budget took the first steps toward pushing the state’s top tax rate
below 5 percent by lowering income tax
across the board and raising sales tax, a combination that disproportionately favors
the wealthy. CityBeat covered that
plan here and Kasich’s early 2013 budget proposals here and here.

Council
members P.G. Sittenfield and Yvette Simpson spoke about pay disparity before
Neurhardt took the podium on Tuesday.

Simpson
stated women on average are earning 27 percent less than men in Ohio and Latin
American women are earning 57 percent less.

“In
the year 2014, that’s unacceptable,” Simpson said.

She
also stated that Cincinnati has a 50-percent single mother rate and that 53
percent of children are living in poverty.

Sittenfield
said the way toward eliminating pay disparity is through “meaningful reforms,”
not tax cuts.

“Wage
equality is not just a women’s issue — it’s a family issue and it’s an Ohio
issue,” Sittenfield said.

Kasich
proposed the cuts as part of a mid-biennium review intended to lay out
administrative goals for next year.

Cincinnati is moving forward, despite the better attempts of state Republicans

In his State of the City address
last week, Mayor Mark Mallory called on Cincinnati to continue pushing for
improvements. After years of stalling, projects like Washington Park’s
renovation, the Horseshoe Casino and the streetcar are finally moving forward,
and Mallory wants to make sure that work continues.

Politically and economically, it
makes sense. Not only have voters approved of both the casino and the
streetcar, but the projects will create jobs. Casino developers have already
begun to fill what they promise will be 1,700 permanent jobs, and city
estimates show the first segment of the streetcar will create 300 construction
jobs and 25 permanent jobs.

But while voters and local
politicians may approve, some state Republicans are doing their very best to
tear the projects down. Gov. John Kasich, who dismantled Ohio’s passenger rail
project, tried his hardest to continue his anti-transit rampage by railing
against the streetcar in public speeches last year. He even ripped away more than
$50 million in state funds from the project.

The casino has been a little
luckier, but not by much. Kasich has claimed both neutrality and approval of
casinos, but he has made building the Horseshoe Casino more difficult. Despite
the fact Ohio has the highest casino tax in the nation, Kasich pushed for
renegotiations for higher taxes and fees last year, ultimately delaying the
casino’s opening from late 2012 to spring 2013.

For the governor, such actions
probably make sense. Kasich has been an ardent supporter of tax cuts — sneaking
them into every single budget even when Ohio had a reported $8 billion deficit.
When he found massive education and health care cuts weren’t enough to close
the gap he helped create, he moved onto casinos and transit projects.

Still, the projects move forward. Kasich and other state
Republicans have not been successful in killing them off, largely thanks to
local voters and local politicians pushing back.

Meanwhile, the casino’s construction is 35 to 40 percent
complete, according to developers. This is despite an accident in January that
resulted in the injury of 20 workers after a steel beam fell and caused a floor
to partially collapse.

But what needs to be clear is that these developments are in
spite of state Republicans like Kasich. When these job-creating projects are
said and done, it’s important credit goes where credit is due — straight to
local voters and local politicians.

Fresh from a successful effort at stopping a budget amendment to block the replacement of a deteriorating Cincinnati bridge, State Rep. Denise Driehaus (D-31stDistrict) will hold a town hall meeting to discuss the Ohio budget with constituents.

Driehaus marshaled forces in the Ohio House this week after she noticed an amendment that affected the $66.5 million project had quietly been added to the state budget bill by State Rep. Bob Peterson (R-85thDistrict).

UPDATE 12/5/12: In a video posted by the Ohio Capitol Blog, Gov. Kasich responds to reporters' questions about the meeting: "He’s a big Republican activist, so I went over to talk to
him. I talk to lots of people.," Kasich said. He said topics of conversation included the planned Ohio Statehouse Holocaust Memorial, but not donations for 2014 or 2016. "Hey, I wuld like everybody to help me, but I didn't get into, 'Hey, I need this from you.'"A political news organization is reporting that Ohio Gov. John Kasich last month met
with a Las Vegas casino billionaire who regularly donates millions to
Republican candidates and causes.

POLITICO says Kasich met privately with
billionaire Sheldon Adelson at the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino during
last month’s Republican Governors Association winter meeting. A call to Kasich spokesman Rob Nichols to confirm the
meeting and inquire as to what was discussed was not immediately
returned.

POLITICO, which often deals in political gossip,
postulates that Kasich could run for president in 2016. The newspaper
reports that Adelson also met with Govs. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and
Bob McDonnell of Virginia — also rumored 2016 GOP candidates.

Adelson and his family have donated $84 million to
Republican groups. Those donations include $20 million each to super
PACs supporting Romney and Gingrich.

“After shadowy outside groups spent more than $40 million to support Josh Mandel’s losing campaign for Senate, Governor
Kasich is actively positioning to be the next Ohio darling of the
special interests,” Ohio Democratic Party spokesman Jerid Kurtz said in
an emailed statement.

“Ohio voters should be deeply disturbed that over two
years away from his re-election campaign, Kasich is already showing
signs he’s willing to serve the special interests and take the same path
as Josh Mandel.”

Adelson is under federal investigation by the Justice
Department for allegations of bribery and money laundering. A majority
of his casino empire is based in Asia.

Ohio Dems wear carnations in solidarity with Michigan workers

In light of Michigan’s progress in passing a so-called
“right-to-work” law, Ohioans are both worried about and pushing for a
similar law allowing workers to opt-out of paying union dues at
businesses where workers are represented by a union.

Tea party activists are working to gather the 380,000
signatures needed to get the Ohio Workplace Freedom Act on the ballot.
They have until July 3.

The Michigan House of Representatives on Tuesday passed
the first of two right-to-work bills, both of which were passed by the
state Senate last week. Gov. Rick Snyder has told multiple media outlets
that he could sign the bills as early as Wednesday.

Michigan would be the 24th right-to-work state in the
nation and the second in the Midwest. Indiana passed a similar law
earlier this year.

Members of the Ohio House Democratic Caucus wore red
carnations — Ohio’s state flower and a symbol of the labor movement — at
the Statehouse Tuesday to show support for Michigan workers.

“Put simply, so called ‘right to work’ is wrong.
Statistics show states with this anti-working family legislation have
lower wages and higher poverty rates,” Ohio state Rep. Connie Pillich,
D-Montgomery, wrote in an emailed statement.

“We will continue to stand together and fight against these unfair attacks on workers in Ohio, Michigan and across the country.”

Despite the effort to put a right-to-work law on the
ballot next year — a similar effort was unsuccessful in 2012 — it
doesn’t seem like Ohio is in any rush to join Michigan and Indiana.

The Columbus Dispatch reports that Ohio Gov. John Kasich has higher priorities than passing a right-to-work law. The newspaper reports that Ohio added 127,000 jobs in the
past two years and ranks fourth nationally and first in the Midwest in
terms of job creation.

Kasich said the agenda for the last two years of his first
term include tax cuts, an education overhaul and infrastructure
improvement to keep the state competitive.

“I have an agenda that I think is going to benefit the
state of Ohio,” Kasich told the newspaper. “We’re doing very well
vis-a-vis the rest of the country now, and I think if we continue to
pursue the agenda I have and the legislature has, I think we’ll continue
to be successful.”

FUN FACT: Michigan's right-to-work bill will be signed into law in the Romney Building. George Romney, former Michigan governor and father of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, was an opponent of right-to-work laws.

Here they come again: the pigs, that is. Artists around Cincinnati are putting the finishing touches on another round of decorated fiberglass pigs that will be unveiled in May as part of the next Big Pig Gig. Co-sponsored by ArtWorks and C-Change, the event is modeled after the one held from May to October 2000 when local artists and schools decorated more than 400 statues and installed them throughout Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. The pigs eventually were auctioned off, raising money for area nonprofit groups. This year's pigs will debut at the Flying Pig Marathon in May and go on full display during the World Choir Games in July. The theme is the city's architecture, or as organizers call it, "pork-itecture."

Gov. John Kasich is an odd man, so it should be no surprise that some items in his recent state budget proposal also are downright bizarre. They include reclassifying bottled water as a food so consumers no longer have to pay sales tax on it, and repealing a 2006 regulation that required all Ohio employers to have applicants fill out a form attesting that they weren't affiliated with any terrorist organizations. (Ahh, the early 2000s. Good times.)

Trustees at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College have authorized bids to construct two 10-unit hangars at its Cincinnati West Airport in Harrison. The new structures would be built next to existing hangars, which house 22 planes and are leased to capacity.

Longtime Reds sportscaster Thom Brennaman assessed the team's prospects for the upcoming season from its spring training camp in Goodyear, Ariz. The interview can be found at the website for WNKU (89.7 FM).

In news elsewhere, Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich appears to have conceded that he cannot win enough delegates in the remaining primaries to nab the party's nomination. The ex-House Speaker from Georgia is reducing his campaign schedule, laying off about one-third of his cash-strapped campaign’s staff and has replaced his manager as part of what aides are calling a “big-choice convention” strategy. Gingrich will now focus on winning in a contested party convention scenario in Tampa, Fla., when the party meets there in late August.

If you like the fact that an insurance can't drop you for a preexisting condition under President Obama's health-care reform law, or that a company can't impose a limit on paying the cost of your medical care, then you'd better hope the Supreme Court upholds it. That's because Obama and Congress have few contingency plans about what to do if the high court strikes down the mandatory insurance requirement.

A dispute is brewing in Israel over plans to prevent the Canaan, an ancient breed of dog mentioned in the Bible, from going extinct. In recent decades, many Canaan dogs were destroyed in rabies eradication programs, and now only a few hundred subsist in the Negev desert. But the Israeli government is threatening to close the operation that has been helping preserve the breed by collecting rare specimens in the desert, breeding them and shipping their offspring to kennels around the globe.

Syria's tentative acceptance of a United Nations-backed plan to end the nation's violent uprising has triggered skeptical responses from U.S. and British officials, amid concern that President Bashar al-Assad is trying to buy time and divide his opponents.

Neighbors of the west African nation of Mali have threatened to use economic sanctions and expressed a readiness to use military force to dislodge those behind last week's coup, urging them to quickly hand back power to civilian rulers. A summit of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has sent a team of diplomats to confront the coup leaders in coming days. Meanwhile, the United States has cut off aid to Mali in protest.

Convicted murderer to be first execution since moratorium lifted

Gov. John Kasich today
denied a request for executive clemency from Mark Wayne Wiles, who
was convicted in 1986 of the murder of 15-year-old Mark Klima in the
northeast Ohio township of Rootstown.

Wiles is scheduled to
be executed April 18 at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in
Lucasville. According to the clemency report, members of the Ohio
Parole Board on March 2 interviewed Wiles via video-conference from
the Chillicothe Correctional Institution, after which arguments in
support of and in opposition to clemency were presented. The board
voted 8-0 against recommending clemency.

Ohio was subjected to a
moratorium on executions from November of 2011 until April 4, 2012,
when U.S. District Judge Gregory Frost of Newark lifted the
moratorium he invoked for the state’s inability to follow its own execution
protocol. The moratorium was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court
in February.

CityBeat reported here
that despite lifting the moratorium, Frost expressed frustration with
the state’s problems carrying out executions, despite the errors
being largely minor paperwork technicalities, including “not
properly documenting that an inmate’s medical files were reviewed
and switching the official whose job it was to announce the start and
finish times of the lethal injection.”

From CityBeat’s
Politics/Issues blog April 6:

Since the
moratorium, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction has
allegedly scrutinized its procedural policies and implemented a new
"Incident Command System," which sounds like an initiative
for ORDC Director Gary Mohr to more closely micromanage the processes
during state executions.

"This court is therefore
willing to trust Ohio just enough to permit the scheduled execution,"
Frost wrote regarding his rejection of Wiles' stay of execution. "The
court reaches this conclusion with some trepidation given Ohio's
history of telling this court what (they) think they need to say in
order to conduct executions and then not following through on
promised reforms."

To date, Ohio has executed 386 convicted murderers. Click here for a schedule of upcoming executions in Ohio and here for recent clemency reports.

City Council on Wednesday
overwhelmingly passed a measure that will offer benefits to domestic
partners of city employees. The measure was introduced by Councilman Chris
Seelbach and passed 8-1, the lone “no” vote coming from Charlie
Winburn. Seelbach told The Enquirer that domestic partner benefits
not only affect same-sex couples, but are also applicable to
non-married partners, which is an added attraction to lure talented
employees to the city. Covington officials passed a similar
measure Tuesday.

If you owe the city of Cincinnati any
parking fines, now would be a good time to pay them. Cincinnati
police are going to start hearing descriptions of vehicles with
multiple outstanding tickets during roll call and then head out to
find them during patrols.

Eric Deters wants to be a real lawyer
again. The attorney/radio personality/cage fighter says his current
predicament — Kentucky law license suspension — is mostly because
someone making the rulings “hates him” and is not due to the “ethical
lapses” that caused his original 61-day suspension. If Deters can't
get the Kentucky Supreme Court to help him out he'll have to go in
front of a Character and Fitness Committee and explain all the crazy
stuff he's done.

New Osama bin Laden documents published
online by the U.S. Government show concern over Muslim distrust of
his organization before he was killed last May, and much of which was due to the high numbers of civilians it was responsible for killing.

It's not very fun to be John Edwards
these days. Already charged with using $1 million in campaign money
to hide a pregnant mistress, testimony in his case for violating
campaign finance laws has revealed that his mistress had a better
idea in response to the National Enquirer's report on the affair: She
wanted to say she was abducted by aliens.

Target is done selling Kindles, and
although it didn't give a reason analysts suspect it is in response
to Amazon's attempts to get retailers who see the products in a store
to then purchase them online. Amazone last holiday season indroduced
a Price Check app that offered in-store price comparisons and up to a
$15 discount online.

Retired NFL linebacker Junior Seau was
found dead at his home yesterday in an apparent suicide. Seau, who
played in the NFL for parts of 20 seasons, was found shot to death.
He was 43.